Greg Russo is probably better known as the author of a string of collector-centric reference books, charting the extremes of his musical tastes from
Manfred Mann to
Jethro Tull. Now he moves on to
the Mothers of Invention, whose early inventiveness is spattered across this wonderful little collection. Indeed, from the moment "Alive" kicks in on a melodic line that certainly wouldn't have been out of place among the sweeter moments of
Freak Out!, it's clear that
Neonfire is not an album to just put on while you're washing the cat. Not-quite-quirky tunes merge with
Candy Zappa's sassy vocals to push the album through a widescreen '60s-style sheen that defies the album's mid-noughties genesis, to hover instead in the shadow of pop's late-'60s golden age. Don't miss the cover of
Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now," by the way. Cut firmly in the mold of
the Manfreds' hit version but jollied up by a deliciously fuzzy guitar, it's one of the most buoyant
Dylan covers to come along in many a moon.